JP4993995B2 - Electric circuit inspection apparatus and method - Google Patents

Description

  The present invention relates to inspection and repair of electrical circuits during manufacture.

  Various automated defect inspection / verification systems (hereinafter “AOIs”) are used to detect defects in electrical circuits such as printed circuit boards, flat panel displays, and interconnect devices being manufactured. Can be. AOI systems useful for testing various printed circuit boards and interconnect devices include, among others, Vision ™, Inspire ™, Spiron ™, Infinex, commercially available from Orbotech (Yabune, Israel). (Trademark), and Discovery (TM) AOI system. AOI systems useful for inspection of flat panel displays include, among others, Invision ™ and Supervision ™ AOI systems, which are also commercially available from Orbotech (Yabune, Israel).

  The defective electrical circuit is discarded or possibly repaired. Conventionally, the repair is manually performed to some extent based on the results from the automatic verification / repair inspection.

  The present invention seeks to provide an improved system and method for inspection and repair of electrical circuits.

  The present invention relates to an apparatus for automatically inspecting and repairing a printed circuit board and a method related thereto, which automatically inspects a printed circuit board and machine-readable an area requiring repair. An inspection function that provides a display; an automatic repair function that repairs at least a portion of the printed circuit board in an area that requires repair using a machine-readable display; and a printed circuit after the first automatic repair operation. An apparatus comprising an automatic repair redirection function and an associated method for automatically reinspecting a substrate and providing a reinstructed machine readable indication of an area in need of repair to the automatic repair function Provided.

In another aspect of the invention, there is provided a swept laser assembly comprising a laser and a first steering mirror that removes spurious conductor deposits in at least a portion of the region, and the laser includes at least a portion of the conductor. To output a beam having an intensity sufficient to remove the damage but not to damage the board portion related to the printed circuit board, and to have at least one element common to each of the verification function section and the repair function section Is mentioned. It is sufficient that at least one of these features is provided. Here, the at least one element preferably refers to an optical element, and thus the collation function unit and the repair function unit share a common optical path.

  The inspection function unit includes defect candidate identification work and defect verification work.

  The auto-repair function will inspect the initial repair operation and, if necessary, re-instruct the machine-readable display of the area requiring repair, and in response to the re-instructed machine-readable display Perform repair work.

  Furthermore, the present invention is an apparatus and associated method for automatically marking a printed circuit board that automatically inspects the printed circuit board and provides a machine readable indication of the repairability of the printed circuit board. Provided are an apparatus comprising an inspection function provided and an automatic mark function that automatically marks a printed circuit board displayed as non-repairable using a machine readable display and a method associated therewith. .

  The present invention also provides an automatic mark feature having a laser polishing apparatus operable to polish a portion of a printed circuit board that is not repairable. The automatic mark function unit forms a polishing mark that is visible to a human operator.

  Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings.

  FIG. 1 is a perspective view of an electronic circuit inspection apparatus 100 for automatically inspecting an electronic circuit according to an embodiment of the present invention, and an enlarged view of a portion associated with the apparatus. The term “electronic circuit” as used herein includes at least, but is not limited to, printed circuit boards, interconnect devices such as ball grid array boards, flat panel displays, and the like. As shown in FIG. 1, the electronic circuit inspection apparatus 100 inspects an electronic circuit in combination with an automatic defect verification station 120 that verifies whether the defect found by the first inspection station 110 is truly a defect. 1 inspection station 110 is included. Although the first inspection station 110 and the verification station 120 are shown as being integrated into a single electronic circuit inspection apparatus 100, the first inspection station 110 and the verification station 120 are each a separate stand-alone apparatus. (And often in general). For example, the Discovery (TM) inspection device and the VRS (TM) verification device, commercially available from Obotech, Inc. (Yabune, Israel) are separate devices.

  According to an embodiment of the present invention, the first inspection station 110 acquires at least one or more reflection images 130 of the electrical circuit to be inspected, indicated by reference numeral 132. The one or more reflected images 130 are acquired by, for example, scanning the electric circuit 132 to be inspected by the image acquisition unit 134. Other suitable image acquisition means such as region image acquisition means may be used. The reflected image 130 may be, for example, a complete electronic circuit 132 image or a composite of a plurality of two-dimensional image frames of the electronic circuit 132. Various different reflection images may be acquired under the same or different illumination configurations.

  According to an embodiment of the present invention, the system 100 first performs automatic verification of the reflection image acquired at the first inspection station 110 to identify defect candidates, and then acquires at the verification station 120. The defect candidate found in the reflected image is verified by further optically inspecting at least one inspection verification image indicated by reference numeral 136. The verification image 136 can be obtained from a variety of different illumination schemes, for example, fluorescence inspection or height inspection of defect candidates or images obtained under illumination with different spectral ranges or under different angular ranges. Alternatively, any other suitable type of electrical circuit inspection or test subsystem can be used to verify defect candidates as actual defects or not.

  As shown in FIG. 1, the at least one reflection image 130 is supplied to a defect analyzer 150 that further receives a reference image 152 created from a computer file reference unit 154 corresponding to the electrical circuit 132, for example. Suitable computer file references can be obtained from one or more of CAM (Computer Aided Manufacturing), CAD (Computer Aided Design) files, and images obtained from known printed circuit boards. . According to the embodiment of the present invention, the computer file reference unit 154 includes a binary image. Since the details of the computer file reference unit 154 are described in US Patent Publication No. 2004/0126005, description thereof is omitted here. The image contained in the computer file reference unit 154 includes a contour map corresponding to the electric circuit 132 to be examined, that is, an edge between the conductor and the substrate.

  The defect analyzer 150 operates to automatically optically inspect one or more reflected images 130 and to output a defect candidate display 160 of the electrical circuit 132. When the optical inspection is completed, the defect candidates are verified at the verification station 120.

  As seen in FIG. 1, the first electrical circuit 132 has undergone an automatic optical inspection at the inspection station 110, while the previously inspected electrical circuit 132 is located at the verification station 120. The previously inspected electrical circuit has already been automatically optically inspected at the inspection station 110, and at least one defect candidate 160 has been identified by the defect analyzer 150. A system that combines the inspection station 110 and the verification station 120 is a Spiron ™ AOI system commercially available from Obotech (Yabune, Israel). Verification station 120 is a stand-alone automatic optical inspection station, such as a stand-alone verification that can operate downstream of an Inspire ™ or Discovery ™ AOI system, also commercially available from Obotech (Yabune, Israel). It may be a station, for example VRS-5 ™, also commercially available from Orbotech (Yabune, Israel).

  Corresponding to the defect candidates identified in the previously inspected electrical circuit, the defect candidate display 160 is received by the verification controller 162, which operatively communicates with the verification station 120 to determine the suitable defect candidates. A verification control signal 164 suitable for acquiring an image is supplied to the verification station 120.

  The verification station 120 includes a camera 170 and a positioner 172 operable to continuously position the camera 170 in response to the verification control signal 164, and continuously displays the defect candidate positions 174. The matching control signal 164 indicates at least the geometric position of the defect candidate specified by the defect analyzer 150. For example, other related information such as certain types of defects may be further indicated. In the embodiment shown in FIG. 1, the positioner 172 is operable to individually control the XY positioning of the camera 170, but other forms of positioning, such as rotational positioning, may also be used.

  For each successively displayed defect candidate position 174 of the inspected electrical circuit 132, the position 174 is illuminated with light operable to provide an image suitable for use in further computer automated defect analysis. . According to the embodiment of the present invention, the defect candidate position 174 is illuminated with light having a wavelength that causes the substrate portion to fluoresce at that position, thereby generating a fluorescence image 176 for the portion of the electrical circuit 132 near the defect candidate. Is done. Defect matching other suitable forms of illumination, for example multicolor or monochromatic light provided at different angles such as elevation, light with different predetermined color composition, or angled structured light suitable for height analysis You may use for. The matching image may be the same resolution as the reflected image 130 used to identify the defect candidate, or may be a different resolution, eg, a higher image resolution.

  The verification image is supplied to the defect analyzer 150, which in the illustrated embodiment is both one or more reflection images acquired during the initial inspection and one or more verification images 136. Is operable to provide an image analysis function for, but need not be operable in this manner. A separate defect analyzer is used to analyze each of the reflected image 130 and the matching image 136. Separate defect analyzers may be, for example, different CPUs in different computers, different CPUs in the same computer, or substantially separate CPUs in the same computer.

  The image analysis function for the initial inspection and subsequent automatic verification may use at least some common image processing algorithms, or may utilize a variety of different image processing algorithms. An apparatus and method suitable for automatically optically inspecting electrical circuits and automatically matching defect candidates as actual defects or otherwise are disclosed in US Pat. No. 6,870,611 and US Pat. This is described in detail in Japanese Patent Publication No. 2005/195389.

  According to the embodiment of the present invention, as shown in FIG. 1, the camera 170 acquires a fluorescence image 176 of the fluorescence response at the position 174. The fluorescence image 176 is acquired at a time interval different from the time interval during which the reflection image 130 is acquired. Thus, for example, according to an embodiment of the present invention, the fluorescence image 176 is acquired after the entire electrical circuit 132 has been scanned to indicate a defect candidate position.

  When the collation image 136 such as the fluorescence image 176 at the position 174 is acquired, the camera 170 is repositioned at the next defect candidate position supplied by the collation control signal 164. Another collation image 136 is acquired at that position. The verification image 136 is supplied to the defect analyzer 150, which automatically analyzes each verification image to determine whether the defect candidate is an actual defect or otherwise a false detection (“pseudo call”). ”(Sometimes called“) ”.

  Upon further analysis of each verification image 136, the defect analyzer outputs a defect notification 161 that indicates the actual defect of the electrical circuit that has been at least partially optically inspected initially using the reflected light, for which defect candidates are to be identified. After further optical inspection of the image, the defect candidate is matched with an actual defect, for example using fluorescence image generation.

  Reference is made to FIG. 2A, which is a simplified diagram of an apparatus and function for inspecting and checking defects in electronic circuits, and FIG. 2B, which is a simplified diagram of a portion of the apparatus. According to the embodiment of the present invention, the electric circuit inspection / repair system 200 includes a first inspection station 110 that automatically inspects an electric circuit, and a defect found by the first inspection station 110 is a true defect. And an automatic defect checking station 120 for checking whether there is any. In addition, the electrical circuit inspection / repair system 200 further includes a defect repair station 240 that repairs at least some defects that were verified as being actual defects at the defect verification station 120.

  The inspection station 110, verification station 120, and their associated components shown in FIG. 2A are configured and operative as described with reference to FIG. Further description of the structure and function of these subsystems has been omitted in order to keep the important teaching points of the present invention clear and not obscured.

  Once the defect candidates are identified, further analysis of each defect candidate is then performed to determine which are the actual defects, after which the defect analyzer 150 can perform a machine reading that displays the actual defects in the electrical circuit 132. A possible defect notification 260 is output. The actual defect indication is preferably determined by optical inspection of at least one reflection image 130 acquired for the electrical circuit and by further inspection of one or more matching images 136 corresponding to the same location. This is based on the geometric coincidence of the determined defect candidate positions.

A defect notification 260, preferably in machine readable form, is provided to repair controller 262, which operatively communicates with defect repair station 240 via repair control signal 264. The defect repair station 240 has a repair head 270 that includes, for example, a laser that repairs a repairable defect in the electrical circuit 132. Repair operations include, for example, removing spurious conductor portions, removing oxides formed on the conductor portions, and / or locally depositing additional conductor material. According to an embodiment of the present invention, these operations are performed automatically in response to machine readable defect notifications 260. Although the repair head 270 is shown and described as including a laser suitable for polishing a spurious electrical circuit portion or removing oxide formed on a conductor, the repair head is described as such. May further include other functions for more complex repairs. For example, the repair head may have a function of depositing a conductor portion at a position where a portion of the conductor, for example, an inkjet device is damaged or deformed.

  However, it should be noted that not all defects detected by the electronic circuit inspection apparatus 100 can be automatically repaired by the defect repair station 240. Some defects may require manual repair of the entire defective electrical circuit 132 or may be discarded in some cases.

  For electrical circuit 132 that is found to have a non-repairable defect, repair head 270 deliberately destroys a portion of the electrical circuit and apparently fails further testing as part of the final product. It may be configured to ensure that it does not. The intentional destruction in place may form a visible defect indication of the defective electrical circuit, making it unusable for subsequent manufacturing operations.

  According to the embodiment of the present invention, the operation of the electrical circuit inspection / repair system 200 is fully automatic. Machine readable defect notification 260 indicates at least some location of electrical circuit 132 in need of repair. An indication of how the laser 242 (generated by a laser oscillator 282 described below in FIG. 2B) affects the repair operation may also be shown in the defect notification 260. The machine readable defect notification 260 may be further processed, for example, by a computer processor associated with the repair controller 262 to determine appropriate instructions for one or more repair operations to be performed at the electrical circuit repair station 240. .

Reference is now made to FIG. 2B, which is a simplified diagram of a repair head 270 having a laser oscillator 282 that generates a beam 284 that laser repairs the conductors of the electrical circuit 132. The repair head 270 is suitable for removing spurious conductor material portions, removing oxides formed on the conductors, or reshaping deformed conductor portions, for example, where the conductor is damaged. Can be used as part of the process of applying a conductive material to the substrate.

  The repair head 270 includes a pulsed laser oscillator 282 supported by a positioner 172, such as a passive Q-switched microlaser available from Team Photonics (Grenoble, France), operable to generate a pulsed laser beam 284. Have. A suitable microlaser may be selected from a laser head operable to output a beam at, for example, 532 nm, 1064 nm, or another suitable wavelength, depending on the application. The pulsed beam 284 is operable to focus the laser beam 284, eg, 10 × objective lens 288 and 125 mm focusing readily available from Edmund Optics and Newport (both located in the United States). The light passes through a first condensing optical system 286 having a lens 290. The pulsed beam 284 strikes a two-axis fast steering mirror (FSM) 292 available from Newport, which is arranged to sweep the pulsed beam 284 to a desired position in the electrical circuit 132 after collection. Lead to. Subsequently, the pulsed laser beam 284 includes a second focusing optical system 294 having, for example, a 62.9 mm lens 296 available from Edmund Optics and a 10 × / 0.28 objective lens 298 available from Mitutoyo. Pass through. In an embodiment of the invention, the lens and other optical components are arranged as shown and properly coated to operate with a selected wavelength of laser beam 284. Other suitable optical configurations may be used.

A repair controller 262 in operative communication with a positioner 272, preferably an XY positioner, properly positions each laser repair device 280 at the actual defect location of the electrical circuit 132 to be repaired. The repair controller 262 is further operable to manipulate the steering mirror 292 to deflect the beam 284 to strike the electrical circuit 132 as needed to perform laser repair operations such as removal of spurious conductor deposits. Supply control signals. While the laser repair device 270 is fixed, the positioner 272 is operable to properly move the electrical circuit 132 relative to the laser repair device.

  Next, FIG. 3A, which is a simplified diagram of an apparatus and a function unit for inspecting and repairing defects in an electronic circuit, and FIG. 3B, which is a simplified diagram of a part of the apparatus, will be described. According to the embodiment of the present invention, the electric circuit inspection / repair system 300 has a first inspection station 110 that automatically inspects an electric circuit and a defect candidate found by the first inspection station 110 is true. A combined automatic defect verification / repair station 320 that automatically matches these and then automatically repairs the defect candidates that are verified as actual defects.

  The inspection station 110 and its associated components shown in FIG. 3A are generally configured and operative as described with reference to FIG. Further description of the structure and functionality of this subsystem has been omitted in order to keep important teaching points of the present invention clear and not obscured.

  As can be seen in FIG. 3A, the first electrical circuit 132 has undergone an automatic optical inspection at the inspection station 110, while the previously inspected electrical circuit 132 has been If necessary, it is located at the defect verification / repair station 320 for repair of a repairable defect. The previously inspected electrical circuit has already been automatically optically inspected at the inspection station 110 and at least one defect candidate has been identified by the defect analyzer 150.

  The defect candidate display 160 is provided to a verification / repair controller 362 that is in operative communication with the defect verification / repair station 320. A suitable verification control signal 164 is provided to the defect verification / repair station 320 to position the verification / repair head 370 and the defect candidate identified as a defect candidate by the defect analyzer 150 is a false warning or actual defect. A defect candidate matching image 136 suitable for matching is obtained.

  The defect verification / repair station 320 includes a positioner 172 operable to position the verification / repair head 370 continuously, and the defect verification / repair station 320 is responsive to the camera and the verification control signal 164. And a repair device such as a laser repair device operable. A verification image 136 of defect candidate positions 174 is acquired and analyzed to determine which defect candidates are actual defects and which defect candidates are only false warnings. If necessary, a repair operation is performed on a defect candidate determined to be an actual defect that can be repaired. The verification control signal 164 displays at least the geometric position of the defect candidate identified by the defect analyzer 150. Optionally, other relevant information such as the type of defect may be further displayed. In the embodiment seen in FIG. 3A, the positioner 172 is operable to individually control the XY positioning of the verification / repair head 370, but other forms of positioning, eg, for the verification / repair head 370 Rotational positioning or positioning of the electrical circuit 132 may be used.

  For each defect candidate location 174 of the inspected electrical circuit 132, the location is illuminated with light suitable to provide at least one verification image 136 suitable for use in further automated defect analysis. According to an embodiment of the present invention, as described with reference to FIG. 1, the defect candidate position 174 is illuminated with light of a wavelength that causes the substrate portion to fluoresce at that position, thereby causing a defect in the electrical circuit 132. A fluorescent image of a portion near the candidate position 174 is generated. Optionally, other suitable illumination forms, for example polychromatic or monochromatic light provided at various different angles such as elevation, light with various different predetermined spectral compositions, or angled structures suitable for height analysis Light may be used for defect verification. The matching image may be the same resolution as the reflection image 130 used to identify defect candidates, or may be a different resolution, eg, a higher resolution.

  The verification image 136 is supplied to the defect analyzer 150, and in the illustrated embodiment, the defect analyzer 150 provides an image analysis function for both the reflection image 130 acquired during the initial inspection and the verification image 136. Be operational, but need not be. Optionally, separate defect analyzers may be used for analysis of the reflected image 130 and the matching image 136, respectively. Separate defect analyzers may be, for example, different CPUs in different computers, or different CPUs in the same computer, or substantially separate CPUs in the same computer.

  Both image analysis functions for initial inspection and subsequent automatic defect matching can utilize at least some common image processing algorithms, or can utilize a variety of different image processing algorithms. An apparatus and method suitable for automatically optically inspecting electrical circuits and automatically verifying defect candidates as actual defects or not are disclosed in US Pat. No. 6,870,611 and US Pat. This is described in detail in Japanese Patent Publication No. 2005/195389.

  When the verification image 136 is acquired at the position 174, the defect analyzer determines whether there is an actual defect that can be repaired at that position. If the actual defect that can be repaired is at location 174, defect analyzer 150 provides machine readable defect notification 260 to verification / repair controller 362. The machine readable defect notification 260 has at least a location where a repair operation is performed. If necessary, the verification / repair controller 362 processes the machine-readable defect notification 260 and outputs a repair control signal 264. One or more of the defect analyzer 150 and the verification / repair controller 362 define repair parameters and provide instructions to follow to repair the defect. Such instructions may include, for example, one of the characteristics of a repair operation (e.g., laser polishing of a defective conductor), precise determination of the location to receive laser energy, the laser pulse to be delivered and the amount of laser power to be applied or Includes multiple.

  While the match / repair controller 362 is shown as a single unit in FIG. 3A, this need not be the case and a separate match controller and repair controller may be provided for each match and repair function, respectively. Please keep in mind.

In addition to the camera and the image acquisition optical system, the verification / repair head 370 further includes a repair device such as a laser for laser repairing a repairable defect of the electric circuit 132. For clarity of explanation of the teachings of the present invention, the embodiment shows a single unit for verification and repair comprising both a camera and a laser, but this need not be the case. Optionally, the camera and laser may each be provided in a separate unit that can be independently positioned. Repair operations that can be performed by the verification / repair head 370 include, for example, several processes of removing spurious conductor portions and locally depositing additional conductor material.

  According to an embodiment of the present invention, laser energy is delivered to the defect location 174 in accordance with a repair instruction in response to a repair control signal 264 to perform a repair operation. After completion of the initial repair operation, the verification / repair head 370 obtains at least one additional verification image 136 at location 174 that is provided to the defect analyzer 150. If the defect analyzer 150 determines that the actual defect that can be repaired is still at the defect location 174, a new machine read defect notification 260 is provided to the verification / repair controller 362, and if necessary, for the next repair operation. The indication is automatically re-indicated and the repair device in the verification / repair head 370 performs further repair work at the defect location 174 in accordance with the re-instructed repair indication. Until the defect analyzer 150 determines that the repairable defect is properly repaired or the defect location 174 is not repairable, the process of verifying the presence of the defect, the process of re-indicating the repair instructions, and The process of automatically performing repair work is repeated.

  If it is determined that the repairable defect is properly repaired, the verification / repair head 370 is repositioned to the next defect candidate position in response to the verification control signal 164. One or more matching images 136 are acquired at the next position of the defect candidates and these images are then provided to the defect analyzer 150. The defect analyzer 150 automatically analyzes one or more verification images of the next defect candidate position to verify whether the actual defect is at the next defect candidate position. If the actual defect that can be repaired is at the next candidate defect location 174, as described above, the repair operation after verification until the defect is properly repaired or the defect location 174 is determined not to be repairable and Re-instructing repair work.

Reference is now made to FIG. 3B, which is a simplified diagram of the defect verification / repair head 370. According to the embodiment of the present invention, the collation / repair head 370 includes an image acquisition function unit and a repair function unit such as a laser repair function unit that repairs a defective conductor of the electric circuit 132. The laser repair function is suitable, for example, for removing spurious conductor material parts, removing oxides formed on conductors, or otherwise reshaping deformed conductor parts, It can be used in a process of applying a conductive material to a position where is damaged.

  According to an embodiment of the present invention, in conjunction with the collation / repair head 370, the image acquisition function unit generates 3 positions 174 along the optical axis 373 and is available from 3 chips available from JAI (Denmark). It includes a camera 372 such as a CCD and an illuminator that provides one or more of on-axis and off-axis illumination. In the embodiment shown in FIG. 3B, at location 174, by a fluorescent illuminator that includes an illumination laser 375 that delivers illumination at a wavelength suitable to cause the substrate of electrical circuit 132 to fluoresce at that location, and also for monochromatic or multi-colored illumination. On-axis illuminator is performed by a high-intensity on-axis illuminator 374, such as an LED illuminator that provides color illumination. As shown in FIG. 3B, light from the illumination laser 375 and on-axis illuminator 374 passes through a suitable beam combiner, such as a partially silvered mirror, and irradiates position 174 along the optical axis 373. Like that. Off-axis illumination is provided by an off-axis illuminator 376 that provides suitable monochromatic or polychromatic light arranged as a ring illuminator at one or more illumination angles relative to the optical axis 373. It may be an LED illuminator. Irradiation from illumination laser 375, on-axis illuminator 374, and off-axis illuminator 376 may be performed simultaneously or differently as desired according to the needs of the particular inspection.

  Camera 372 displays position 174 along optical axis 373 with a suitable lens, such as a 6000 × zoom tube lens 376 available from Navitor, and a 10 × / 0.28 objective 298 available from Mitutoyo. To do. A suitable filter 377, eg, a suitable combination of high pass, low pass, and / or notch optical filters, is provided so that the camera 372 receives only the images needed to perform defect matching, eg, an illuminator Ensures that the light that interferes with the acquisition of an image suitable for defect matching, which is the reflectance from the fluorescence irradiation when the laser 375 is used to fluoresce the substrate of the electrical circuit 132, is filtered out. Like that.

  According to an embodiment of the present invention, each verification function and repair function of the verification / repair head 370 is configured to at least partially share the same optical path along the optical axis 373. The repair function has a pulsed laser oscillator 282 supported by a positioner 172, such as a passive Q-switched microlaser available from Tim Photonics (Grenoble, France), operable to generate a pulsed laser beam 284. . A suitable microlaser may be selected from a laser head operable to output a beam at a wavelength of, for example, 532 nm, 1064 nm, depending on the application. The pulsed beam 284 is suitably coated 10 that is operable to focus the laser beam 284 and is readily available from optical suppliers such as, for example, Edmund Optics and Newport (both located in the United States). It passes through a first condensing optical system 286 having a double objective lens 288 and a condensing lens 290 of 125 mm. The pulse beam 284 is directed to impinge on a two-axis fast steering mirror (FSM) 292 available from Newport, which is arranged to sweep the pulse beam 284 to a desired position in the electrical circuit 132. Subsequently, the pulsed laser beam 284 is folded by a partially transmissive mirror 291 arranged to combine the optical path of the laser beam 284 with the optical path of illumination from the illumination laser 375 and the on-axis illuminator 374, and Edmond It passes through a second condensing optical system 296 having a 62.9 mm lens available from Optics and an objective lens 298. In accordance with the preferred embodiment of the present invention, the lens and optical components are arranged as shown and properly coated to operate for a selected wavelength of the laser beam 284.

  As described above, according to the embodiment of the present invention, each verification function unit and repair function unit of the head 370 share at least a part of the optical path. A polarizing cube beam splitter 391 is combined with each path of the beam 384, illumination laser 375 and illumination from the on-axis illuminator 374 to coincide with the optical axis 373 along which the camera 372 is electrically connected at position 174. The circuit 132 is displayed.

A verification / repair controller 362 is provided and operable to communicate with a defect verification / repair head 370 comprising a camera 372, an on-axis illuminator 374, an illumination laser 375, and an off-axis illuminator 376. The laser defect verification / repair head 370 is properly positioned with respect to the defect location 174 of the electrical circuit 132 to provide a desired illuminator for defect verification operations and to acquire an image of the defect location 174. Further, the verification / repair controller 362 properly communicates with the positioner 172, laser 282, and FSM 292 to control and operate the beam 284 to perform laser repair operations such as removal of spurious conductor deposits as needed.

  In an embodiment of the invention, the verification / repair controller 362 communicates with a positioner 272, preferably an XY positioner, to properly position the verification / repair head 370 with respect to the defect candidate position 174. Optionally, defect verification / repair head 370 is stationary and the positioner is operable to properly move electrical circuit 132 relative to defect verification / repair head 370.

  The orientation of the steering mirror 292 position is controlled by a repair control signal 364 provided by the defect verification / repair controller 362 in response to a machine readable defect notification 260 received from the defect analyzer 150. Manipulation of the steering mirror 292 directs the beam 284 to selectively strike the desired position of the electrical circuit 132 for repair as needed.

  Reference is now made to FIG. 4, which is a simplified diagram of an apparatus and function for inspecting and repairing defects in electrical circuits in accordance with another embodiment of the present invention. In accordance with an embodiment of the present invention, the electrical circuit inspection / repair system 400 automatically verifies the first inspection station 110 that automatically inspects the electrical circuit and the defect candidates that the first inspection station 110 has found. A combined automatic defect verification / repair station 420 for automatically verifying and then automatically repairing defect candidates verified as being actual defects. As seen in FIG. 4, according to an embodiment of the present invention, inspection station 110 and automatic defect verification / repair station 420 are integrally formed on the same chassis as part of a unit that includes inspection / repair system 400. The

  The inspection station 110 and its associated components shown in FIG. 4 are generally configured and operative as described with reference to FIG. The automatic defect verification / repair station 420 and its associated components shown in FIG. 4 are generally configured and operative as described with reference to FIGS. 3A and 3B. Further description of the structure and function of these subsystems has been omitted in order to keep the important teaching points of the present invention clear and not obscured.

  Next, electrical circuit conductor repair according to the process shown in FIGS. 5 and 5, which is a simplified flowchart 500 illustrating the automatic mode of operation of the verification / repair device of FIGS. 2A-4 in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention. This will be described with reference to FIGS.

  According to an embodiment of the present invention, the electrical circuit is first inspected to identify defect candidate locations. The first inspection is performed using a stand-alone inspection apparatus (FIGS. 1 and 3A), using an inspection apparatus (FIG. 2A) combined with a function unit for verifying a defect candidate as an actual defect, or using a verification function part And an inspection device (FIG. 4) combined with both the repair function unit.

  As can be seen from the chart 500, for example, the defect analyzer 150 is used to check whether there is an actual repairable defect at the defect candidate position. FIG. 6A shows the portion of the electrical circuit that has been verified to be defective and repairable. This electrical circuit portion includes conductors 610 and 620. These leads are shorted by the outer conductor segment 630. It has been determined that the defects seen in FIG. 6A can be repaired by removal of the outer conductor segment 630. When it is determined that the defect candidate position does not have a defect, the collation operation proceeds to the next defect candidate position. If it is determined that the defect candidate location is a defect that is not repairable, the electrical circuit is discarded or the defective electrical is properly marked using, for example, laser 282 (FIGS. 2B and 3B). It can be ensured that the circuit is eventually discarded. The verification may be fully automatic or optionally verified by a human operator.

  However, if it is determined that the actual repairable defect is at the defect candidate location, the portion to be repaired at the defective site or position of the electrical circuit is determined and a repair procedure is indicated. FIG. 6B shows a two-dimensional dimensional image of the electrical circuit portion shown in FIG. 6A, and FIG. 6C shows a reference image 152 including an outline corresponding to the properly formed electrical circuit portion seen in FIG. 6A. Analysis of the image of FIG. 6B against the reference seen in FIG. 6C verifies that the electrical circuit portion is actually defective and that the segment 640 needs to be removed to repair the electrical circuit.

  In this example, as seen in FIG. 6D, the segment 640 to be repaired is determined and a repair procedure suitable to repair the segment 640 is indicated, such as removal of an appropriate portion of the outer conductor segment 630 by laser polishing. Is done. The laser treatment instructions may be directed by the defect analyzer 150, by a coprocessor, such as in the repair controller 262 (FIG. 2A) or verification / repair controller 362 (FIG. 3A or FIG. 4), or by other suitable processing means. . In accordance with an embodiment of the present invention, laser treatment to remove excess conductor segments, such as outer conductor segments 630, typically does not damage the substrate on which the electrical circuit is formed, while at least one of the segments. You are instructed to remove the part. This can mean providing a laser dose that leaves some of the outer conductor portion unremoved. That is, the laser beam used or the laser beam power output by the laser does not completely remove and / or complete the repair operation, even when the laser beam energy is first applied to the defective electrical circuit portion. Otherwise, it is selected so as not to damage the substrate. If repair of the electrical circuit portion involves deposition of damaged conductor material, the repair procedure may be instructed not to deposit excess conductor material. As a result, the repair of segment 630 may or may not be completely completed after the initial procedure.

  The laser treatment is then delivered to the part to be repaired according to the indicated repair procedure. After the repair procedure is performed, the part to be repaired is examined after the procedure, for example using an automatic verification function. The inspection operation is particularly desirable if the amount of laser beam energy is selected so as not to damage the substrate, even if the repair operation is not complete when the first laser treatment is applied. Optionally, the inspection operation determines the completion of the repair operation performed on the conductor and determines whether the substrate is damaged by the laser beam. In accordance with an embodiment of the present invention, an automatic verification function is provided with the laser treatment function seen in FIGS. 3A, 3B and 4, so that the electrical circuit to be repaired is between separate verification and repair stations. Eliminate the need to pass through.

  If the verification function determines that further action is needed to properly repair the electrical circuit, the portion to be treated to perform the repair is reconfirmed and the amount of laser energy to apply (adjustable laser output). A new treatment instruction is instructed including a case where a laser having the same is used. A repair procedure, for example a laser procedure, is repeated according to the redirected instructions. Until it is determined that the portion to be repaired is properly repaired, the inspection work, the determination work, and the re-instruction work are repeated. If it is determined that proper repair has been performed, the system proceeds to verify that there is an actual repairable defect at the next defect candidate location.

  FIG. 7A shows conductors 610 and 620 and outer segment 630 after the initial laser repair procedure. The initial laser repair procedure was insufficient to completely remove segment 630. Thus, as seen in FIG. 7B, the two-dimensional verification image obtained, for example, by a fluorescence image indicates that the segment 630 has not been completely removed, and as seen in FIG. Are indicated for all regions 640 corresponding to outer conductor segments 630. Other forms of matching images may be used, for example 3-D images that would be suitable for determining the height of the remaining conductor. Such a determination can be useful in determining the next laser treatment instruction, eg, the laser power applied during the next laser treatment.

  Upon further laser treatment according to the re-instructed repair instructions, the segment 630 is further destroyed and the remaining portions 632 and 634 of the outer conductor segment 630 become discontinuous as seen in FIG. 8A. As can be seen in FIG. 8B, the two-dimensional matching image acquired after performing the laser repair procedure is only partially removed when the outer conductor segment 630 is analyzed against the reference image seen in FIG. 6C. Indicates that it has not been. As seen in FIG. 8C, the indication of the laser repair procedure is redirected so that laser energy is delivered only to the indicated region 640 corresponding to the remaining portions 632 and 634 of the outer conductor segment 630. It should be noted that as the segment is further destroyed by applying polishing laser energy, the intensity of the treatment decreases and does not cause unnecessary damage to the substrate.

  If the laser treatment is still further applied according to the re-directed repair instructions, the remaining portions 632 and 634 of the outer conductor segment 630 are still further destroyed as seen in FIG. 9A. As seen in FIG. 9B, when analyzed against the reference image seen in FIG. 6C, the two-dimensional verification image obtained after the laser repair procedure has been performed, the portions 632 and 634 of the outer conductor segment 630 are Indicates that it still remains. As seen in FIG. 9C, the laser repair procedure instructions are re-instructed to remove only the remaining portions of region 640 corresponding to the remaining portions 632 and 634 of outer conductor segment 630. Will redirect you to obtain a repair of conductors 610 and 620 as seen in FIG. Suitable repairs of conductors 610 and 620 are verified from the two-dimensional verification image seen in FIG. 11, which is analyzed against the reference image seen in FIG. 6C.

  It is noted that the number of repetitive treatment steps required to repair a conductor varies and can vary depending on the size of the defect to be repaired, the power of the laser, and the effect of the substrate on laser damage. I want.

  Those skilled in the art will appreciate that the present invention is not limited to what has been particularly shown and described hereinabove. For example, various embodiments of the present invention may include a variety of different combinations of sensors and controllers. The scope of the present invention is that of various combinations of features and combinations of components described herein, as well as conventional techniques that would naturally occur to those skilled in the art upon reading the above specification. There are no changes and modifications.

1 is a simplified diagram of an electronic circuit inspection apparatus for automatically inspecting an electronic circuit that is configured in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention and is operable as such. FIG. FIG. 2 is a simplified diagram of an apparatus for automatically inspecting and repairing an electronic circuit configured and operable in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention. 2B is a simplified diagram of a portion of the apparatus of FIG. 2A. FIG. FIG. 6 is a simplified diagram of an apparatus for automatically inspecting and repairing an electronic circuit configured and operable in accordance with another embodiment of the present invention. 3B is a simplified diagram of a portion of the apparatus of FIG. 3A. FIG. 6 is a simplified diagram of an apparatus for automatically inspecting and repairing an electronic circuit configured and operable in accordance with another embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 5 is a simplified flowchart illustrating an automatic operation mode of the collation / restoration device in FIGS. 2A to 4 according to an embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 6 is a simplified diagram of a portion of an electrical circuit that is repaired according to the process shown in FIG. FIG. 6 is a simplified diagram of a portion of an electrical circuit that is repaired according to the process shown in FIG. FIG. 6 is a simplified diagram of a portion of an electrical circuit that is repaired according to the process shown in FIG. FIG. 6 is a simplified diagram of a portion of an electrical circuit that is repaired according to the process shown in FIG. FIG. 6 is a simplified diagram of a portion of an electrical circuit that is repaired according to the process shown in FIG. FIG. 6 is a simplified diagram of a portion of an electrical circuit that is repaired according to the process shown in FIG. FIG. 6 is a simplified diagram of a portion of an electrical circuit that is repaired according to the process shown in FIG. FIG. 6 is a simplified diagram of a portion of an electrical circuit that is repaired according to the process shown in FIG. FIG. 6 is a simplified diagram of a portion of an electrical circuit that is repaired according to the process shown in FIG. FIG. 6 is a simplified diagram of a portion of an electrical circuit that is repaired according to the process shown in FIG. FIG. 6 is a simplified diagram of a portion of an electrical circuit that is repaired according to the process shown in FIG. FIG. 6 is a simplified diagram of a portion of an electrical circuit that is repaired according to the process shown in FIG. FIG. 6 is a simplified diagram of a portion of an electrical circuit that is repaired according to the process shown in FIG. FIG. 6 is a simplified diagram of a portion of an electrical circuit that is repaired according to the process shown in FIG. FIG. 6 is a simplified diagram of a portion of an electrical circuit that is repaired according to the process shown in FIG.

Explanation of symbols

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 100 Electronic circuit inspection apparatus 110 Inspection station 120 Automatic defect matching station 130 Reflection image 134 Image acquisition means 136 Verification image 150 Defect analyzer 154 Computer file reference part 160 Defect candidate display 162 Verification controller 170 Camera 172 Positioner 200 Repair system 240 Defect repair station 240 Electrical circuit repair station 242 Laser 260 Defect notification 262 Repair controller 270 Repair head 270 Laser repair device 272 Positioner 280 Laser repair device 282 Laser oscillator 286 Condensing optical system 288 Double objective lens 290 Condensing lens 291 Partial transmission mirror 292 Steering mirror 294 Condensing optical system 296 Lens 296 Condensing optical system 298 Objective lens 300 Restoration system 320 Restoration step 362 Repair controller 370 Repair head 372 Camera 373 Optical axis 374 On-axis illuminator 375 Irradiation laser 391 Polarization cube beam splitter 400 Repair system 420 Repair station 630 External conductor segment

Claims (9)

An inspection function unit that automatically inspects a printed circuit board and provides a machine-readable display unit in an area that requires repair of the printed circuit board;
Using the machine readable display, an automatic repair function for repairing at least a portion of the printed circuit board in an area of the printed circuit board requiring repair;
Automatically re-inspect the printed circuit board after an initial automatic repair operation and provide the auto-repair function with a re-instructed machine-readable display of the area of the printed circuit board that requires repair And an automatic repair re-instruction function unit
The automatic repair feature uses a swept laser assembly that removes spurious conductor deposits in the at least part of the region;
The sweeping laser assembly includes a first steering mirror and a laser configured to output a laser beam that strikes the first steering mirror .   2. The laser is configured to output a laser beam having an intensity that removes at least a portion of a conductor and does not damage a portion of the substrate associated with the printed circuit board. The electric circuit inspection apparatus as described.   2. The electric circuit inspection apparatus according to claim 1, wherein both the inspection function unit and the automatic repair function unit use at least one common verification / repair optical element.   The electric circuit inspection apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the inspection function unit includes a defect candidate specifying operation and a defect matching operation.   The electricity of claim 1, wherein the automatic repair feature is operable to perform further repair operations in response to a re-indicated machine-readable display of an area in need of repair. Circuit inspection device.   Automatically inspecting the printed circuit board and providing a machine-readable display of the area that requires repair of the printed circuit board;
  Responding to the machine-readable display for at least a portion of the printed circuit board in need of repair, performing repair work on the printed circuit board,
  After the initial repair operation, re-examine the areas that need repair and provide further machine-readable indications of the areas that require repair,
  Re-indicating the machine-readable display of the area in need of repair;
  In response to the redirected machine-readable indication of the area in need of repair, perform further repair work;
  Performing the repair operation includes removing spurious conductor deposits in at least a portion of the area requiring repair by sweeping a laser beam over the area to be repaired;
  The step of sweeping the laser beam includes a step of outputting the laser beam and a step of directing the laser beam so as to strike a first steering mirror, and automatically inspecting and repairing the printed circuit board. Method.   The method of claim 6, wherein both the automatic inspection operation and the repair operation use at least one common optical element for both verification and repair.   7. The output laser beam of claim 6, wherein the output laser beam has a sufficiently high intensity to remove at least a portion of a conductor without damaging a substrate portion associated with the printed circuit board. Method.   7. The method according to claim 6, wherein the step of automatically inspecting includes the step of identifying defect candidates and the step of collating the subsequent defect candidates as actual repairable defects.

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